By the time Antonio Arceo answered a call from his wife’s cell phone and heard a stranger’s voice asking if he knew Roxana García, a simple run-in with the police was plunging their family into a nightmare. The stranger was a sheriff’s deputy who had stopped García for speeding, then arrested her for not carrying a license. She spent one night at a county jail about an hour west of Chicago, then federal immigration officers took her. Soon García would be deported. What began as an ordinary run-in with local cops ended in a family’s separation. Every day, local police are the entry point [...]
Beyond borders
Last week, I moderated Beyond Borders, a talk hosted by The Biennial of the Americas. The conversation focused on migration, the fluidity of borders, and the people who cross them. Coffee Chat: Beyond Borders from Biennial of the Americas on Vimeo. I was joined by Patricia Kumbakisaka, Tania Chairez, and Maria G. Aguilar Correa. Robin Swanhuyser, Program Director for the Biennial, organized it. [...]
ICE family prison population hits lowest point in years
In the midst of the pandemic, ICE has reduced its family immigration prison population to the lowest level since at least 2016. The agency’s three prisons where parents are confined with their children collectively held 369 people, on average, in May of this year. That’s a drop of over 2,100 people per day from the Trump administration’s peak in May 2018. Data I’ve obtained using Freedom of Information Act requests shows a steady downward trajectory for the nation’s family immigration prisons. When President Trump entered the White House in January 2017, there were almost 1,800 people held [...]
ICE holds migrants for longer in pandemic
In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, ICE is holding migrants in its prison system for longer periods. Last month, migrants spent almost two months longer in ICE prisons than one year earlier. By comparing ICE data on average length of stay, I’m able to consider an important feature of immigration imprisonment across multiple years. Using Freedom of Information Act requests, I’ve previously learned that in June 2018 migrants spent, on average, 36.0 days inside ICE prisons. In June 2019, they spent roughly the same amount of time there: 37.8 days. But in June 2020, the average length of [...]
Dip in families detained by ICE
The Trump administration’s anti-migrant policies are well known and multifaceted. Interestingly, the government’s heavy-handed approach is showing up in fewer detained families at ICE’s “family residential centers.” Data I obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests show that there were substantially fewer children held alongside their parents in September 2019 than at that point one or two years earlier. From October 2016 to September 2019 (ending on September 14, 2019), the number of people held in ICE’s family immigration prisons peaked in May 2018 when, on an average day, the [...]
Talking immigration prisons with poet Bobby LaFebre
Last week, Colorado Poet Laureate Bobby LaFebre and I shared a virtual stage to talk about immigration prisons in the United States. A wordsmith with a sharp sense of urban politics, LaFebre's art is grounded in North Denver, a neighborhood that has beat with the energy of migrant populations for generations. In recent years, North Denver has also been the city's gentrification epicenter. Sponsored by The Word: A Storytelling Sanctuary, a non-profit committed to diversifying the publishing industry, our conversation focused on my book, Migrating to Prison: America's Obsession with Locking [...]
C-SPAN Book TV features “Migrating to Prison”
My in-person book tour came to a halt with Covid-19, but I'm pleased to share an appearance on BookTV, the C-SPAN program. This talk took place at BookBar in Denver, an independent bookstore where the selection of books is as good as the wine offerings. https://www.c-span.org/video/?466860-1/migrating-prison In the exceptional circumstances in which we now find ourselves, I hope you will consider supporting independent bookstores like BookBar by buying directly from them. [...]
Supreme Court decision highlights need for “New Way Forward” legislation
By Alisa Wellek and Nancy Morawetz In a cruel ruling last month in Barton v. Barr, the Supreme Court upheld a Trump administration position that will deny many green card holders facing deportation the possibility of asking for relief. This decision will put more people at risk at a time when immigration detention and deportation have exacerbated the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and there is a national movement demanding decarceration and a halt to deportations. As the pandemic rages, the Barton decision received scant attention yet it has major implications for thousands of our [...]